a. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic gaming systems, more specifically, to hand held controllers or control pads used with a microprocessor controlled gaming system and an associated raster scanned display or television.
b. Related Art
Computer gaming systems first arrived and gained wide spread popularity around the early 1980's. The initial games available for home use were relatively simple. For example, one of the early games consisted of two electronic paddles on either side of a screen and an electronic ball which two players bounced back and forth to one another in a tennis-like fashion. The input devices used with these early games were correspondingly simple, i.e. joysticks or rotary dials.
The Genesis System, manufactured by Sega Enterprises Ltd., is one of the most commercially successful gaming systems of modern times. As suggested by FIG. 1, the Genesis System is based around a microprocessor controlled Gaming Device 10 which is connected to a raster scanned display (i.e. a standard television). The gaming device 10 accepts a game cartridge and has electronic plug inputs 12, 13 for communication with two hand held Control Pads. A conventional control pad 30 is depicted in FIG. 2. The game cartridge contains the appropriate firmware which, in connection with the gaming device 10, processes player commands from the control pads 30 and to display the changing action of a particular game on the television. A detailed explanation of the gaming device 10 is not necessary for an understanding of the present invention which is directed to an enhanced control pad.
FIG. 2 illustrates the exterior of a conventional Control Pad 30 currently available with the Genesis System. As shown, the conventional Control Pad 30 is comprised of a joystick-like directional button 32 (D-Button) on its left side and a plurality of control buttons (A,B,C, and Start) on its right side. The user generally operates the Control Pad 30 by holding it in both hands so that the left thumb is positioned over the D-Button and so that the right thumb is positioned over the A,B,C, and Start buttons.
We'll use a hypothetical basketball game to explain the use of the conventional Control Pad 30. Passing the ball from player to player is a desirable feature in such a game. Given a conventional control pad 30, the user might use the D-Button to direct the movement of the player with the ball and simultaneously press the A Button to consecutively select one of the other four players to receive the pass. The user might then pass the ball to the selected player by pressing the C Button. While this may be a complicated process for some people, many children and certain game playing adults are capable of relatively high levels of hand/eye coordination. The conventional control pad 30 was a significant step in addressing the needs of such gifted players. However, returning to our specific basketball example, note that the player cannot use the conventional control pad 30 to immediately select a particular player to receive the pass. As shown by this one example, there is still room for improvement in gaming systems and, more specifically, for enhanced control capability and greater complexity.